China

India and China are doing their fair share

November 30, 2011: India and China cannot  be blamed for lack of progress in the global climate change negotiation, a senior negotiator from the Africa Group said today. Speaking to Down to Earth, at the sidelines of the COP17 in Durban, Seyni Alfa Nafo, a negotiator from Mali and the spokesperson of the Africa Group said: “India and China are doing their fair share,” and that developing countries combined efforts to reduce green house gas emissions was more than that of the developed countries.

Of stances, tactics and country positions

November 28, 2011, Durban: Key players at the climate negotiations in Durban presented a preview of their tactics which they might adopt over the next 14 days. On the opening day of CoP17, China made it clear that without finance and technology transfer on the table, the talks were doomed. The US on its part wanted the Cancun Agreement, signed last year, to be operationalised. The European Union stuck to its recent demand that a solution to global warming is only possible if emerging economies like China and India take emission reduction targets.

Factsheet: Will the developed world meet their Kyoto Protocol target?

A report by the Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency says the developed world will meet their Kyoto Protocol target and blames India and China for the increase in global CO2 emissions in 2010. But that is not true. Read the analysis  that brings out the bias in the report

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BPA out of baby bottles

China has banned bisphenol A (BPA) in baby bottles and is also contemplating increasing the death penalty to crack down on food safety rule violations. Six ministries including the ministry of health, issued notices, on May 31, confirming that use of BPA in the manufacture of infant bottles will be illegal from June 1, 2011. The notice also said that from September 1, 2011, it will be illegal to import or sell any BPA-containing baby bottles. The local food inspectors have been alerted to tighten the scrutiny on baby bottle producers to ensure compliance of the rule.  

When business rules our kitchens

Once again there is a food safety scare. A deadly strain of E coli bacterium has hit Germany, where it has taken the lives of 25 people and affected another 2,300 till date. German food inspectors on the trail of the source of contamination ha­ve as yet made two errors—blaming Spanish cucumbers and then organic bean sprouts—but no breakthrough.

Major Polluters Say 2011 Climate Deal "Not Doable"

Date: April 28, 2011

The world's biggest greenhouse gas emitters do not expect a legally-binding deal to tackle climate change at talks in South Africa in December, two leading climate envoys said on Wednesday. U.S.

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Endosulfan Conspiracy

It was in February 2001 that Down To Earth broke the story.

Battle for the Internet

By Latha Jishnu and Arnab Pratim Dutta

As the Internet turns into the public square and the marketplace of our world, it is increasingly becoming a contested terrain. Governments, corporations and even seemingly innocuous social networking sites want to control and influence the way it operates 

The endgame at Cancun

By: Sunita Narain

As I write this, some 24 hours are left to finalise the agreement at the 16th Conference of Parties to the climate change convention being held in Cancun. At this moment it seems the predictable deadlock in talks will continue. Like all other global climate meetings, the world remains deeply divided on the matter of how to cut emissions of greenhouse gases that even today determine economic growth. Not much is expected to happen at the beach city of Cancun.

Deal won, stakes lost

Last fortnight we discussed the clandestine endgame afoot at Cancun to change the framework of the climate change negotiations to suit big and powerful polluters. Since then Cancun has concluded and a deal, in the form of a spate of agreements, has been gavelled into existence by the chair. Commentators and climate activists in the Western world are ecstatic. Even the critics say pragmatism has worked and the world has taken a small step ahead in its battle to fight emissions that determine its growth.